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HON. OS. FERRY, OF CONN., 

'-' DELIVERED IK THK 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, JANUARY 24, 1861. 



The House haviug under consideration the report from the select comiJQittee of thlrty-throo — 

Mr. FERKY eaid: 

Mr. Speaker: I recognize, to-day, but two parties in this couutry : the pariy of law au<i 
order, and the party of revolution ; the parly which would preserve the Federal Govern- 
ment, and the party which wouid destroy tn.it Government; the unionists, and the disunion- 
istb. The rapid growth of the latter orgau.a ition, which, emerging from the lurking 
places of conspiracy a little more ihun two muuiti,-* ngo, has in (hat short space of time 
become dominant in several of the States, and has led t.iomauds of citizens into open rebel- 
lion against the Government, requires of us a careful scrutiny into the avowed reasons for 
so unnatural a revolt, and an impartial investigation of its origin, of the objects of its 
leaders, and of the results to which it tends. On the odier hand, rho aoMiiute necessity which 
exists for the maiatenance of social order, demands of us that wa ascertain and adopt iha 
most efifective methods for the preservation of the social fabric. The consideration of the 
measures reported by the m:ijority and minority of the committee, necessarily involves the 
inquiries which 1 have juat ludicated. 

In the manifestoes published by the di.iuuiouists for their own justification, 1 find various 
circumstances assigned as furnishing sufficient reasons fur rebellion. The first is thai 
Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal ilaoilm have been elected President and Vice Pi-esident of 
the United States Was there any violation of the ConstiHuiou, aay infringement of the 
law, in the mode of aocumpiishiug that result? None whatever. The result, then, is not, 
in itself, sufficient cause for Uisunion. 

But it is said that Abraham Lincoln dislikes slavery, and is of opinion that it will ulti 
mately disappear from the Republic. George Washington, the first President of the United 
States, held the same views. So did John Adams; so did Thomas Jeifei'son ; so did Jamea 
Madison; so did James Monroe. Clearly, then, this is not cause iov disunioa. 

It is urged, however, that Mr. Lincoln thinks that slavery ought not to expa.id into free 
territory. So did President Jeifersou, when he approved the ace to enable the people of 
Ohio to form a State constitution with an express provision to prevent the expansion of 
slavery into the future State. So did President Madison, when he approved the act to enable 
the people of Indiana to form a State constituton with the same restrictions. So did Presi- 
dent Monroe when, with his approval, the same conditions were imposed upon the admission 
of the Slate of Illinois. So did President Jackson, when he approved the act organizing 
the Territoi-y of Wisconsin, including the present States of Wisconsin and Iowa, with an 
express prohibition of the existence of si ivery therein. So did President Polk, when ho 
signed the aot '• to establish the territorial government of Oregon," with the same wise 
prohibition imposed upon " the inhabitants aud future States'" of t.'i.u Territory. How, 
then, can the opinions of President Lincoln upon this subjeoi ju8nfy a dissolution of the 
Union ? 

But we are told that the number of the free States is iucreasiug more rapidly than that ot 
the slave States; that, in process of ti.ne, the former will compose three fourths of uU the 
members of the Union, and will then so amend the Ooustituti'^n as to secure iho abolition 
of slavery. What if liberty is outstripping slavery iu the march of empire' Will you 
fetter the indomitable energies of freedom, tid it shall limp and hait along at the slow p ice 
of bondage? How can the free States acquire the apprehended preponderance? When all 
our territory is organized into States; when Kms.a-, Xjdraska, Dacotah, Washington, 
Pike's Peak, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and the Indian reservation, shall bo members of 
the Union, with constitutions such as Jetfersou wouid approve, there will be but twenty- 
seven States against your fifteen, aud you are already authorized to add to your number 
four more from Texas. Uuiess you extend our dominions by foreign acquisition, it is im- 
possible, with the States that will be formed out of our present territoiy. to acquire the 
three-fourths requisite to amend the Constitution in this respect. This apprehension oeasea, 
then, to be a cause for rebellion. 

We are told, however, that the free States will not hesitite, when they are strong enough, 
to violate the Constitution. Such an argument is a simple insult: it is the bald pratease 
of a traitor seeking a cover for his treason. If it proves anything, it demonstrates that oo 
oonoession that can be made will reach the root of the difficulty. 



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.V3^ 



It 18 urged, fiuallj, that the people of the northern States have enacted laws, which are 
termed personal liberty bills, and which interfere with the effective operatfon of the statute 
for tht rendition of fugitivea from service. 1 inquire into the fan, and I discover that in 
order to prevent uJjUBe of process under the rendition act. which 'n sj constructed as to be 
peculiarly liable to 8uch abui^e, the Legiblature:> of uome of thd tiorihern States have tfarewu 
guards around the freedom of their people ; but, with only two or three possible exi--eptioni», 
without in any wise contravening the Cou.itituiiou or the laws of tho United State?. My 
own State is arraigned. 1 look at her statute, and find an act, wh^^e purpose .«eemb to be 
to prevent abuse of process and the reduction of freemen to bondage, and which, in uo 
degree, impairs the rights of cl-.iimants under the rendition law. I afck if any case has 
occurred, in any State, where a claimant ha« lost the services of a fugitive through the 
intervention of process uuaer a personal liberty bill; anu I learn that not a singlp instance 
of the kind has liappene<l. 

But, it is added that northern miuislers preach, northern editors write, and northern 
orators rpeak against slavery to the people of the North; and that thus the northern mind 
ha; become so demoralized as to prefer freedom to bondage. Let, then, .'^outhein minister-, 
editors, and oriitors, come and answer those of the North ; no mob shall tar and feather, 
hang or shoot them ; if their efforts shall prove fruitless, the evils of free speech and a free 
prcbS are beyond remedy. 

I have now considered the avowed reasons for this rebellion; and, on a fair examination 
of them, I am constrained to say thut they aie utterly frivolous, and such as, in themselves, 
could never have moved the people ol aiy State to sedition and revolt. Th« causes lie 
deeper; and I now proceed to unfold them. 

Disunicn, in its present shape, is of thirty years' growth, although, until the 6ih of Novem- 
ber last, it expanded in the dark. It may be traced to the working* of a single mind, disap- 
pointed '.t a cherished ambition — when John C. Calhouu lost the hope of being the successor 
of Andrevv Jackson. Though destitute of the highest qualities of statesmanship. Mr. Cal- 
houn had, nevertheless, the sagacity to perceive the yet unconscious strength of what has 
since been culled "the slave power" in our complex system x)f govimment; liow existing 
compactly m one section of the country, and embracing a pecuniary interest so vast that 
the mind is unable to grasp it, if its political cap.acities could be brought to act as a unit, 
in connectinu with either of the great parties in the other section, it would be potent to rule, 
and how. if severed from all parties, it might be able to ruin the Republic. All the yenrs of 
his lile, after the disappointment of his ambitious expectations, were spent in cea iiess and 
0ucces!^liil efforts to unite the slaveholding interest as a single combatant in the political 
arena It was necessary, first of all. to defy the sentiment of the civilized world, and to 
overturn all the convictions of the people of the South, in oi-ler to establish among them the 
dogma 'hat slavery, n itself, is right, a moral, social, and political good. He made the 
effort, end the result hi»s been accomplished, while the nations have stood aghast as they 
listenea to tliis now gospel of bondage proclaimed from the very lemplesof liberty. Fearful 
sacrifices nave been mndi- in the course of this revolution of opinion. It was a philosophi- 
cal necessity that its success should overthrow the liberties of those who participated in it ; 
and, in acoonlance with that necessity, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and free 
dom of elections, the very elements of civil liberty, were, one after the other, given up. h 
was de.'riiable, in the second place, to imbue the southern lOMid with theories of goverumeui 
by which treason might be made honorable and rebellion cease to be a crime. The mis 
chi^""""" heresy of secession was revived, and, after man,, years oi denial and dispute, 
adopted as a fundanicntul axiom in southern politic. 

To combine the elements of political power in the .-laveholding Siates was a more difficult 
task The genius, patriotism, and popularity of Mr. Clay, were the chief ob.>,taclcs to be 
oTcrcome. They were overcome in the presidential election of 1S44; and the first act in 
the drama of disunion was accomplished hy the annexation of Texas, under the immediator 
auspices "f Mr. Calhouti. Additional strength was gained by the oliivehoKiing interest in 
the (Jcnrral Uovernment, nnd a vast territory acquired for the expected southern lonfederacy. 
The war with Mexico for the extension of that territory to the Rio Grande, and for still 
turther acq'ii.siiions to !.■.• westward, was the second uci. It accomplished botu purposes, 
but the expected advantnge to the slaveholding interest in the regions beyond the Rio Grande 
was fruBtruied by the genius of Ci.iy and the firmness f Taylor. Enough, however, had 
been accomplished to hasten the j/Uipo-es of thedi.-unionists. They wert t' be found in both 
the political purties of that day. The time had arrived for concentrating their energies. 
They chose the Democratic party as their instruineot ; and between 1830 and 1852 the 
torces of disunion were gathereil into thai organiration In the laittr year, the total 
destruction of the Whig party was iiccomplishe<i. It was uecessary, further, to break up 
the unity of the Demc>cracy. There was one statute which was, more than any other, dear 
to the cuniry The Missouri cjiupromise wa^ second oiil} to ihe Consiiiution in the affec 
tions of the people. A proposition for its repeal was suggtsted. The disunionists eagerly 
seized ujjou the project, aud the outrage was consuinmuied. Thousai;ds of Democrats in the 
tree States left their party ranks forever. A seeming indoisement of the legislation of 1854 
was obtained by the union of the combined South with a few of the border northern 



States, in the election of Mr. Buchanan. But it became evident that the young and 
vigoroup party which had sprung into pxiatencf upon the repeal of the Missouri com- 
promise — a party which combined all the best, eleraei!?'* of the old political organizations 
of the North, and would have speedily taken a powerful position at the South but for the 
despotism which ha ' destroyed nil freedom of elections there — would be likely to succeed 
m I860 A mp.de-up ••nse was smuggled into ihe Supreme Court, which proceeded to 
expouud the Constitution in a manner that c mpelled every patriotic jurist in the land to 
blush for very bbame. S'avery was made national by judicial coustruction ; and that con- 
struction was enforced in the Federal territory at the point, of the bayoneA The disun 
ionists, meanwhile, had been busily at work. They had prepared a schem'e of seditioil 
and revolt, to be carried into effect in the event of the election of Colonel Fremont. That 
event having failed to occur, they now took complete possession of President Buch- 
anan. A wild SHturnalia followed, unsurpassed since the worst days of the wor-t emperors 
of Rome. Treason lurked in every department of the GoTerum-cnt. and struck hands with 
grand and petty larc^'ny for the acyomplishment of its purposes. Everybody stole. Gabi 
u t oflBcers, clerks, custom-house officials, postmasters, reveled in theft. Even thpreat^'into 
of the Spartan law were not applied; for the criminals were never pun;.shed upon ac eo- 
tion, but danced gaily off with their spoil, to plot rebellion against the Government which 
they )iad first robbed and then betrayed. Disunion was preparing for its consummation. 
The infamy of the Dred Scott decision had destroyed the confidence of the nation in the 
Supreme Court. The infamy of the Lecompt >n bill, and the boundless corruption which 
was everywhere revealing itself, had destroyed ♦^he confidence of the nation in the execu- 
tive adminietr.ition. The Republican party had. from the beginning, been mobbed and 
shot and stnmgled out of the southern States. Toe same fate must be gut ready for the 
Union purtion of the Democratic party. , The great politicnt conventions, to make nomina- 
tions for the Presidency, were coming' on. That of the Democratic party was4;o be held 
In Charleston, the very hotbed of treison. The leaders of disunion contrived to be 
appointed delegates to it. Thty demanded the adoption of principles which n.< northern 
Democrat could sanction without betraying his constituency, defiling his own conscience, 
and dishonoring himself. As was expected and desired, the convention was broken into 
fragments. The Democrats who stood by the Union were driven to nominate a candidate 
from the northern section of the Republic, while the disunionists formed themselves into 
a compact party, prepared to sweep the Southern States. Then followed a political can- 
vass such as the country had never before witnessed. The action of the disunionists in 
the convention had insured the success of the Republican pir^y They had now four 
months before them, in which, under the pretence of opposing that result, they might 
indame the populafmind up to the pitch of treason and di-memberment of the Union. 
Xo man in all the South, with here an there an exception along the northern borders, 
could open his lips in explanation of Republican principles. No man could defend them 
there without the certainty of a violent death. The disunionists thus had the field to 
themselves, so far as the accomplishment of their immediate purposes were concerned. 
The whole South was inundated with one foul, reeking deluge of falsehood The objects, 
the principles, the very persons of Republicar.s were libelled, day by day. for four long 
months. Men who had sat in Congress with the Republican candidate for Vice President 
as fellow-Demoorats, and who therefore knew the falsity of what they said, inflamed the 
worst passions of the southern mob by the assertion that Mr. Hamlin was a mulatto. 
" The poison of asps w..s under their lips; their tongues would set on fire the course of 
nature, aud were themselves set on fire of hell." The loyal men of the South who per- 
ceived the tendency of events stood aghast at what was occurring around them. They 
could not deny these aspersions without being denounced as the apologists nf abolit,ion. 
The ignorant poj^ulace woniered, believed, wi^r/ inflamed, and thus made tit for the designs 
of the conspirators. The election took place, and resulted as everybody knew it must do. 
Forthwith 'the revolutioii was precipitiited." Wlule the minds of men were thus heated 
by passion engendered by misrepresentation, the issue was forced upon them in the seced- 
ing States, with ui) time allowed for reflvciion, >ind with an indecent haste that demon- 
strates both the insincerity and the incapacity of the managers. 

What, now, are the ohi'-Vis of those who have led this movement to its present condition? 
I answer: in part, the (•■■niplete overthrew .f democratic institutions, and the establish- 
ment of an Hris.ocvauc. -if c«en a monarchical government The disciples of the Calhoun 
school have learned to .listrust the people, to hate universal suffrage, and to believe in aris- 
tocracy. Amoug the leaders of disunion may be found the victims of disappointed ambi- 
tion, who, in the" reconstruction of society, seek opportunities of personal advancement ; 
the hoid :tn I reckless, who look forward to scenes of adventure : the broken in fortune, who 
see the avenues to wealth opening to them ; theorists, who fancy that their s-hemes will be 
realized : and martial spirits, who long for conquest and military glory. Behind all these 
stands the mob, just beginamg to be conscious of its strength, and ready for any desperate 
enterprise. Loyal citizens are dilenced by fear. Men of property either join the ranks of 
the iusurgeuts, in hope ol saving something from the wreck, or stand despairingly aloof, 
■'„-.. lA^t-t. of ikf< t'.if.ira. Let bftt tht" tis3 vbicb bind the gtst^s to tfe^ Fed*'f{il Govcrnrndafc 



t>t broken, and tbe leaders of the rebellion see glittering before tliem the priies of a slave- 
holding empire, which, grasping Cubn with one hand, and Mexico with the other, shall di«- 
tribn'e titles, fume, und fjrtuno, to the foremo^i in 'he strife. 

Such, in my opinion, is the real origin of the |.re.-«»iit revolt, and such ure the motives 
which inspire its leadeis. I do not say that ai! who ..re participating in the rebellion 
sbare these feelings. Thousands of honest men buve been deceived by the promotern of 
revolution, and verily think that they are striking f.ir endrmgered rights. And what is the 
result to which all iliii- tends? Tbe first thing which it proposes to accomplish is the 
dismemberment of the Republic; atid this it claims the right to do. withrut the con- 
sent of the F.der.il G.vtrnmeut or of the loyal States, but as an exercise of the plain con 
etitutional powers of th • disloyal States. Th"- advocates of this d' gma would hide the 
guilt of rebellion, and (he blood and teari of revolution, under the suft-spukcn phraseology 
of teces-ion They have dug the rotting tones of nuUificatiDn out of its dishonored grave, 
and, c'otbing them with the mask and mbes of a false legality, have endeavored to conceal 
from the world the grinning skeleton within. I shall not spend time in exposing the im- 
posture. The Ooveinment of the United States is a delusion, the Un'on a shim, nnd the 
Constitution a lie, if secession be true I can add notkiug to the reasoning which has 
already been brought ti> bear upon it D iniel Web-ter smote it with hi'-- Thor's hammer a 
generatiou sinee ; und no man c)f this generation ca add to the weignt of that blow. 

SVhat results may be expected after the disraembcnriHut of the RepuhHc'.' The southern 
empire will seek to cule-ce, and may for a 'ime succeed ; but it will find in the ambitii n 'f 
rival chiefs, in the coufli ;t of rival inieresis, and in the pernicious example of succ•e^•'ful 
rebellion, sources of di^cord more t-erioUb than ever prevailed iu the old Union. Without 
diversity of industry, and with labor enslaved, aristocracy will continue to expand until 
the necessity of armies for defence, armies for attempted conquest, and firces to watch 
the first symptoms of insurrection, will superinduce a military despotism. The expansion 
now so much sought for, will not be obtained. Neither th>.' Powers of the old world nor of 
the new will permit M« xii-o or Cuba to pa'-s into the hands of the empire of the South. 
The slave trade will be reopened, vtt tii>t clande-ti'i ly, ai list openly. Taxation will fall 
with crushing weight upon the prope; fy interests. Thousan Is will fly from a country given 
over to destruction, to regione where liberty and social order will .still prevail. The pre- 
ponderance of the b'ack over the white race will begin and will increase with fearful 
rapidity. I clo'^^e my eyes in horror, and look no further, for the far horizon is growing 
lurid with the fires nf St. Domingo. 

Meanwhile, the United States of America remains among the f Temost of the nations of 
tbe earth. Siiil belting the cout'nent with" it< vast domain, possessed of an industry th<» 
most diversified of that of any people, retaining agricultural, commercial, manufacturing, 
and mining interests unsurpas'-ed anywhere in extent an I in capacity of development, 
bound together with iron bonds by the great highway of nations whose termini shall be the 
Atlantic and Pac f?^ shores, and occupied by a jieople as free, as virtuous, as happy, and 
as contented as any on the globe — the grandeur of the Republic will remaiTP unimpaired by 
the madness of those who have rejected its ble-sings. Over ever}' sea the stars and 3:ripes 
will !-lill wave, not as '-the ensign of one of the little North American Ro|>«iblics," but as 
the flag of the United States, fiare<l ftjr the jiower wliose t-jmbol it is, honored by n hou- 
Biud recollections, endeared by a th'iusand associations, and, perhaps, not less glorious in 
tne sight of thf> civilized world when slavery shall have ceased to recognize that banner as 
itt emblem. 

It has been said, indeed, that the dismemberment which.! h.ive been consideinng is not 
the only one that may occur; and sundry gentlemen, whose homes are to the northward of 
Mason and Dixon's 1 ne, bu' whose principb's wouM seem to h.ive spiung from a m^'re eon 
gtnial southern soil, have expressed an auxietj' to e.scape from a further union witii New 
England. I do not wonder when such expressions fall from the lips of any one who. in 
this age of the world, and bred amid free institutions, has nevertheless consented to bei ome 
the apologist of slavery. Hut, sir, what would this nation he without the New England 
influence which has permeated its whole life ? Go out from her boriler>. and t>ib w the 
parallels of latitude westward to tue Pacific Wherever along your pathway you find, 
mingled in their jn^test proportions, reverence for law and love of civil liberty ; wherever 
you find the highest social order resting securely upon the broadest democracy ; wherever 
industry is most prevalent, and reaps the most ample rewards ; wherever villages 
cluster thickest, and churchcs^most abound, and sehool h;us< s ttand most Inquent; 
wherever Christianity assumes her purest firm, and educatio-i io- m ist widely dissemina'ed. 
there, sir, everywhere thtre, you behold the footprints of New I'ngland. .\nd at buni.-, 
among her mountains and ahng her 'alleys, dwells to-day a people unsurpassed, in ►•very 
thing that makes a nation great, by any people on this earth. Cast by accident upon 
a bleak and comparatively sterile region, they found themselves confront' d by the hostile 
elementi of nature, and defi.'d and coucjuercd them. They have turned the rocky hill-sides 
into smooth (laslure fields, and the de-olate swamps into fair meadows. They have chained 
the rushing rivers, and compelled them to drive the machinery' of a thonsand manufacto- 
riefl, whose product is borne by their commerce to tbe farthest regions of the globe They 



have dotted the land all over with villages, where the hum of industry never ceases except 
for the old New England Ir-ahbath rest. Their government is the purest democracy the 
world ever saw ; their social order as perfect as any that ever prevailed in human society 
From every hill-top you can count the spires of many churches ; in every h.iml^t the 
school-house, free to all, has its place. The people who dwell there are quiet, loyal, law- 
abiding men, pursuing their avocations "u pe;ice, and dreading commotion and civil strife. 
But the blood of the old Ironsides is in their veins, juid in their minds the memories of 
Marston Moor mingle with those of Lexington and Bunker's Hill. The impulse which lies 
deepest in their hearts is not the misenible fiction miscalled Honor, but the living and 
eternal verity of Duty, at whose <^all they will, if need be, lay down the implements of 
pence, and walk as calmly up to the cannon's mouth as they now do to their daily toil. 
S'r, the United Stntes uf America cannot atford to lose New England, and the sons of New 
England, scattered all over the broad North and West, cannot sunder the tie which binds them 
to the hearth-fctone of civil liberty ou this western coutinent 

But 1 am waiideriug from my purpose. I have now considered the nvowed reasons for 
this revolt, its reai origin, the object of its authors, and the results to which it tends. It 
remains for me to ascertiin, if I can, the most effective methods for its suppression. Great 
changes in the condition of affairs have occurred since the early sessions of the committee. 
When we first met, no State had attempted to withdraw from the Union; no Federal prop- 
erty had been seized and confiscated; no .Federal fortn captured ; no rebel cannon fired upon 
the national flag. Six weeks Ago, we might properly have discussed alleged grievances ; it 
may now be appropriate that preliminary measures of a different character he taken. If I 
have correctly judged of ths origin and character of this sedition, it may well be doubted 
whether there is no more need of the intervenfion of the judicial and executive departments — 
to which alone belong the trial and punishment of crimes — than of the legislature. 

But the subject is before Coogres'^, and we areask'd to compromise. And to compr(lnli^e 
what? Not questions of financiai, commercial, or industrial policy, but our conviccions of 
moral rectitude, our love of liberty, our reverenee for duty. That is what constitutes the 
grave character of the issue now before us. In matters of revenue, in matters of finance, 
in all matters of mere expediency, concessions and compromii-es may safely enough be made; 
but I know of only one rule of civil conduct when moral duties are necess.ai-ily brought into 
the field of political action, and that rule is. to do right. To ingraft upon the Constitution 
an express recoguition of property in man, and to pledge the power of this Government un 
alterably for the preservation and protection of that property in ail the Federal Territories 
where slave labor can be profitably employed, would be, in my judgment, a monstrous ini- 
quity, abhorred of God. and deserving the execration of the civilized world. 

The gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Millson] reprobates the phrase " property in man," 
and, in the next breath, c aims to have won a victory by the decision in the Dred Scott case, 
whose cardinal principle is the recognition of this very " property in man." I turn to the 
laws of his own State ; I find th> re that a wlave is a chattel personal ; a 'thing to be soh! at 
auction, to be devised by will, to descend by inheritance, to be bought and sold, to he levied 
upon in execution ; and I am asked to consent that the Constitution of the United States 
shall be so changed— I will not say amended — as to go on unalterably forever, fostering, 
nourishing, and protecing this sybtem in Territories which, by the organic law of a Spanish 
Republic, were to be dways free. Such is the proposition of the venerable Senator from 
Kentucky, suhstan tidily reproducelin the re.>oluti'm suggested by thegent'em-an from Liuis- 
iana. Sir, I cannot accede to it. The authority <^t' that Senator is of no avail in a quest'on 
of this character; : nd n,i.,ig that has occurred since my association with Congress, has 
filled me with such profound regret, as this last act of his long, useful and honorable public Hfe. 
Why, sir, do gentlemen think that the freemen of the North are all knaves and hypocrites. 
as well as cowards? For ^ix years have the supporters of Mr. Douglas been denouncing 
this idea of protection to slave property in the TerritorieH. Because their leader deserts 
them, do you expect that they, too. will repudiate the principles which have grown to be a 
part of their intellectual being? For six jears have the supporters of Mr. Lincoln been 
striving to secure those Territories from the pernicious influences of the system of bondage 
They have been doing this because they thought it best for the whole country that such a 
result should be attait^ed ; best for the Territorie.s. best for posterity ; they have been doing 
this because they thought that the extension iA t-hivery by the natinnsl authority would 
bring down the vengeance of Heaven upon a guiity land; because they saw that wherever 
the institution was most powerfiil, civil liberty, wh(..-<e elements, as I have before said, are 
freedom of speech, freedom oi the press, and freedom of elections, could not exist. And in 
all this they have been exceedingly in earnest. Thty have won a great victcry ; they have 
elected a President of like political fnith with themselves; and now you gravely a?k them 
to turn their backs upoa all their past professions, to renouoce the principles by whose 
utterance they have obtained power, aud to ma*e themselvei a mockery and a his&ing to 
the whole civilized world, because the defeated party threatens a resort to arms! When 
they comply with that request, sir, the time will have come to level down Bunker's Hill. 

The chairman of the select committee of this House has reported a series of measures*, 
the first of which is a joint resolution for an amendment to the Constitution, of a somewhn' 
different character. 1 will read it, as reported.- 



A«r. Xn. N'o amendment of this Constitution, b^Ting for it« object any interfereuc« within the Stat«« 
with the relation between their eitizent and tho«e described in (section ^^cond of the flr^ article of the 
Constitution aa "all other porsona," shall originate with any State that does not recognize that relation 
within it^ own limits, or fball be valid without the assent of everj- one of the States composInK 'he Union 

Is it possible to IiPten to these wordi' without a feeling that we are a6hrtme>l ■ f what we 
are doing? Observe the circumlocution, the awkwHriluess of construction, tho invdlutiDn"! 
of meaning. What ie it all for? Sir, it is hi-cauee you are putting slavery into the Cnnati 
tution beyond what the fathern did. Do you eay that they, too, (>»cribed hondnge by a 
circumlocution ? I answer, they did no such thing. They intended 'hat their Cont^titution 
should contain no Ferleral recognition of slavery : and they went directly to the accom- 
plishment of that intention by designating every human being in the land a* a perton. 
Why put this piece of patch-work upon the siber fihric of their coa'<tructi"a ? 

I am told that it is only intended lo prohibit «* future amendment of the Constitu- 
tion, having for its object any interference with slavery in the States; and then I aro 
nsked, do you wish to interfere with slavery in the State.s; or do you wi.sh lo amend 
the Constitution so as to accomplish that result? I do not; neither dn I intend to 
establish a national bank, or initiate direct taxation; but I cunnot see that it follow* 
therefrom that 1 should amend the Constituiioti ?■' as to forbid such enactments. I» 
there no other subject of concern in this llepublic but slavery? Shall the organic law 
be liable to change in its bearing upon the great coyimercia;, manufacturing, and agricul- 
tural interests, upon matters of pence and war. upon the relations of Givernment to thp 
people; and yet we now erect slavery into the one great, overshadowing principle, which 
we purpose to declare, before God and m^n. shnll he immutable and eterual ? Slavery, 
which the fathers laid out of sight as an unholy thing, we drag from its decent conceal 
ment, and. placing it upon the petliment "f the Coustitution, take mutual oath' '''at there 
it shall stand forever. In doing this, we overtlirnw that equality of the States of which » e 
have heard so much ; for we den\' to a majority of the member!; of the Union even the 
capacity cf suggesting amendments upon bo jiacred a aubjoct 

Sir, the Constitution of the United State-? needs no change m favor if slavery. F will 
stand by it hs it is; 1 will accord to every interest all its rights; and I an amazed that the 
very parties wlio have been loudest in their lip devotion to the fundamtiital law, should be 
the very first to demand its radical alteration. The ^-xisteuce in the -inuthern States of 
groundless fears, engendered by willful falsehood, is no reason for a change in the Consti 
tution. Every precedent of change )« dangerous; doubly dangerous when occurring iti 
times of high political excitement, or amid the turmoil of civil commoiion, or offered to 
appease the wrath of armed rebels against nil government atid ail soci>«l order. I shall not 
vote for the amendment. 

The next proposition is " .An act for the admission of New Mexico into the United States 
fif America." When the preparation of this bill was first suggested in the coimniftec. some 
weeks ago, I assented to it. When the bill it.-elf wn.« reported to the cnTumittee. 1 withheld 
ray assent. Noarly evciy southeru gentleman had repiuii.Tfed it. and wt were assured that, 
instead of lieing a measure of peace, it would add to the existing irritation. I am there- 
fore left to decide whether, as an net of ordinar3' legislation, it ought to receive my sup- 
port 1 have, until very recently, believed that a fair convention of the people of that 
Territory would frame a constitution prohibiting the existence of slavery «ithin the future 
State. But the report of the chairman of the committee proceeds entirely upon the sup- 
position that New Mexico is of course to be a slave Stole ; ami his remarkable speech in the 
House, the other day, is of the same tenor. .\n extiaci tr.«ni his report will exhibit my 
meaning : 

"ThiB Territory was orifsniieil in 1860. By its orgauir law llie Territurial l.^■^'i^Ut1lre was iiuthuri7.«a to enart 
Ibwp and report them to Cougreas. It wiu. provided iu the name iict tliat if Oongre!' sli..uIii.^iHai>|'roTH the lawi 
thus made they thould be null and ^oil. 

"In the year IS.'iy the Teiritorrial Let^i.slafur^ of New Mfxi<n .-^iMtili-he<i «l»vi.ry in f. at Terrilor\. Tlii» law 
w»B difiapprnved at the last sescion of CongreKS l.v h vo;i> of llie House, but the .Senate have not yet arted on the 
bill, and go the law of the Territory, not having been annulled by both IluuKe^ of tVingre»,i. renmincin full force, 
and slavery now exists bv law in New Mexico. 

"Iti«furlher|provided'bv thea<:t of t850 that NeV Mexico, when .she ih adniitie.! into ihe l"niou,;shHll be admit- 
ted with or without alaverv, Bsher rouHlilution miiy orduin. The l^■mnliltee now propose Ui admit New Mexico 
into the Union «h a State ou an equal footing with the original St.*u>B. By this courne the faith of the nation 
pledged In the ai t of li>5o will l« prew^^eII. and the Territj ry lying H.utli I'f tli« parallel of ;i(5^ So' will be dle- 
(lOfed of, and the Kubjeot matter of c.mtrover.'iv removed tiom Ihe ju.i^tli.ti .n •>! ihe Federal <io\.rnment. Thus 
all claimwl by the .>iouth will be obtained, wliile th.- nurlliern portion ot oar leiiiHiniu): Tnrntorx will he suhiect 
f-huchlaw an the Oinstiliition and Congress may furni^ll for its goiernmeiit 

" By this adjustment of the iir"heut territory of the Uuitu. including the •••rri:or> id all the Mate', it w«II^Ih« 
found that the area of the free States and Territories, Including all north o; the line 3ft° an', contains l,t4*,'7» 
square miles, and a population of 19.03fi.7:)9. niakiiiii a population of about eleven uud tivi- tenths lothes^juare 
mile. 

"The area ot the slaveluddiug stales, including New .Mexico, is 1.0U4,oO4 »<)uare miles, with a tcdcral popu-ation .if 
about nine and seven tenths to the square mile. By this arnm^ement of all the territory now popsi-s.-d by llie 
Inited Stales, when New Mexico is admitted. ifa>luiilted a.-o s',»ve .<lal". Ihat (Kis-essed by ibe hliveholding!»t,-»te« 
will be greater, in [lorpcrtion lo federal po|iulatlon. than that m-c»ipiiHi by the nou-slaveholdine ."tales and Tern- 
IOlie^. The committee are at a loss to i-oncelve what mure than thiscjtii Iw demnuded or desired h\ th»' .south." 

The import of this lunguago is unmistakable, and it indicates purpose- which are wholly 
foreign to ray Hettled conviotions of duty. Mr. Speaker, tve acijuired tliis territory from 
Mwiflo Tbdi Rvpubllo. feeble anU liistrncted though she w»i, bfttl yei haj th»? wisOtim to 



prohibit the existence of bondage throughout all her possessions. It would be a great 
wrong and au undying disgrace for the Government of the United States, either by conquest 
or by purchase, to obtain free territory to be carved into slave States. The people intended, 
by the recent, election, to be secure again.st the accomplishment of such purpose. The mode 
m which this measure is presented to us, seems calculated to frustrate that intention. It is 
true that no one, in voting for the bill, votes for the report ; but the report, nevertheless, 
is justly received by the country as explaining the bill and foreshadowing its results. If 
thnse results should fail of accomplishment; if the constitutional convention should, after 
all, prohibit the existence of slavery, may not the South, with some reason, say that your 
scheme of conciliation was a juggle and a cheat, and fan the tires of revolution into a still 
wilder flame ? 

The objections to the bill, as a measure of ordinary legislation, are insuperable. I learn 
from very high authority that the people of New Mexico do not wish its passage ; that they 
are a sparse population, scattered over an immense area, five times as large as the State of 
New York; that they are separated from communication with each other by waterless 
deserts and vast mountain ranges ; that they are poor, and unable to bear the expense of a 
State government; and that they prefer, for the present, to remain under the fostering 
care of the Federal power. I learn, moreover, that the population of American origin does 
not amount to a thousand in numbers; that of the remainder, there are but three or four 
thousand freemen of unmixed Spanish descent, while the residue is made up of peons and 
Indians of more or less mixed blood. To compel such a people, so situated, to form a con- 
stitution and come in'o the Union, would be eminently unwise. I suall vote against the bill. 

The committee have reported an amendment to the present law for the rendition of fugi- 
tives from service. The President, in his message, had emphatically condemned the statutes 
known as personal liberty bills, and had even declared that, without their repeal, "no 
human power could save the Union." U was very plain that the President had never read 
the laws of which he was speaking; but, so far as my own State is concerned, I have 
always been willing to repeal the particular statute alluded to, whenever the Federal Gov- 
ernment should take away the evil which that- statute was wisely enacted to guard against. 
1 am happy to say that the bill reported by the committee will, in my judgment, accomplish 
that purpose. The act of 1850 was peculiarly liable to abuse of process of the worst descrip- 
tion, even that whereby a freeman might be deprived of his liberty; against this evil a 
portion of the free States have legislated in the manner complained of. The present amend- 
ment, though nut so perfect as I could have wished, does yet contain such provisions as to 
create a moral impossibility that any freeman can be reduced to bondage under its opera- 
tion. The question is not, however, whether I would vote for it as an original proposition, 
but whether I will consent to the amelioration, so far, of the existing law. I shall cheer- 
fully give it my support, and upon iis passage by Congress, will join in the recommenda- 
tion to the people of my State for the repeal of a statute whose longer continuance will 
have become unnecessary. 

The committee has reported one other measure of specific legislation. It is as follows : 

" Be it enacted by the Senate and House of JitpreserUatives of tli^ United States of Amtrica in Congress assembled, 
That every person charged, by indictment or other satisfactory evidence, in any State, with treason, felony, 
or other ciime. committed within the jurisdiction of such State, who shall flee or shall have fled from justice 
and be found in another State, .shall, on the demand of the executive authority of the State from which he 
tied upon the district judge of the United States of the district in which he may be found, be arrested and 
brought before such judge, who, on being satisfied that he is the person charged, and that he was within the 
jurLidiction of such State at the time su.-h crime was committed, of which such charge shall be prima facie 
evidence, shall deliver him up to be removed to the State having jurisdiction of the crime; and if any question 
of law shall arise during such examination, it may be taken on exceptions by writ of error to the circuit court." 

There is no action of the committee which I more deeply regret than the report of this 
bill. I regard it as an attempt at flagrant usurpation by the Federal Governmsnt of pow- 
ers that properly belong only to the States. By the theory of our system, the highest 
duty of the State authority is to protect the person of the citizen. The bill before the 
House strikes down the very capacity to perform that duty. Its legal efl'ect is to suspend 
the writ of habeas corpus from the State judiciary in all cases of requisition for the sur- 
render of allegea criminals; and to wrench from the State executive functions which have 
been exercised thereby for sixty-tour years, in order to devolve those functions upon a 
Federal judge appointed by the President of the United States, and holding othce for life. 
I believe its practical operation will be disastrous ; for instead of the trifling dift'erences 
which now exist between certain Governors, it tends to collision between the Federal and 
State authorities, which ought, if possible, to be carefully avoided. 

Nor do I approve the object of the bill. It has been very generally held by the Govern- 
ors, that no surrender should be made upon a requisition for the commission of an act 
which was LOt a crime by the laws of the State on whose executive the requisition was 
made. I believe that decision to be right It is expected to reverse it by the judgment of 
the Federal courts as now constituted. The object for which the reversal is sought is, 
mainly, that requisitions upon indictments for what are called offences against slave prop- 
erty, and for the publication of such printed matter as the laws of certain States may de- 
nominate incendiary, shall be made effectiTe by the surrender, through the Federal judges, 



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of the persons accused. Indictments have been found against citizens, who had never been 
in the juriadictioD where the crime was alleged to have been committed at all; the only 
preueuce therein being such flf was derived, by construction, from the mailing by the ac- 
cused of a newspaper in the State of New York to a iriend or subscriber south of Mason 
and Dixon's line ; and the bill, as far as possible, sanctions this iufamou- practice, by pro- 
viding that the mere finding of the indictment shall be prima facie evidence before iht 
Federal judge of the prexeuce of the accused at the place where the crime is alleged to 
have been committeci Every innu shall be presumed to be innocent till his guilt is proved, 
is the mnxim of the common law ; the bill reverses it squarely. 1 have nothing to say of 
the 1 iws which the citizens of the slaveholding States may choose to make for the preser- 
vation of their sy-^tera of society ; but 1 must protest against the practical extension of 
those laws all over the Republic, through the intervention of the Federal courts. 

Mr. Speaker, I have now stated very fully the course which I intend to pursue regarding 
the propositions submitted by the chairman of the committee. It remains for me to con- 
sider what ought to be done for the preservation of the Republic It is a question involv 
ing, at this :.our, terrible responsibilities. Good men, brave men, wise men, may well 
hesitate and doubt. But, sir, there !•< a principle which will guide us safely in the darkest 
hour. It is .simply to do right. The one great revelation of history, which, abova all 
others, exhibits its awful presence amid the changes of rising and of falling nations, is, 
that God governs in the attairs of men, and that the people who deliberately trample upon 
His eternal law cannot prosper. It is because I have learned this, that I dare not make 
another compromise with slavery. And why should we compromise? The people have 
elected a President of signal integrity, and holding just and constitutional opinions. Forth- 
with armed rebellion springs up all along the Gulf, and with sabre brandished ^n ourfaccf, 
and bayonet pointed at our brciists, demands compromise. Other States, catching the 
infection, threaten to join the insurgent ranks unless we compromise. Compromise what, 
sir? Not a petition for redress of grievences has been laid upon our table, but the soft 
appliances that are brought to bear upon this great Government are drilled troops and 
loaded cannon. 

The venerable Senator from Rhode Island remarked in his place the other day : *' I am 
afraid to compromise, lest I demoralize the Government." I share in that fear. Suppose 
we yield; sacrifice the moral convictions of the North, and th« revolting States return to 
their allegiance : the tariff bid of the gentleman from Vermont is taken iroin the the table 
of the Senate and passed ; forthwith the host of ^edition are rallied, sece^jsion again raises 
its hideous front, and amid tne clangor of arms sounding from the Gulf, the industrial in 
lerests of the nation are immolated u.pon the altars of treason. Will Pennsylvania .stand 
halting and trembling then? After peace has been re-tored by the new surrender, the 
homes'iead bill is resched upon tlie Calendar of the Senate, guns roar from Fort Moultrie, 
buyoueti bristle at Pensacola. batteries are planted on the banks of the Missis'^ipp!, and 
amid shouts of "compromise" the Government yields once m-^re, and the free emigrant ot 
every bection is eacriticed to the plantation. On which side will the Northwest be then ? 
A compromise now is but (he establishment of sedition as an eleineniary principle in 
our system. Let the slaveholding States renounce their mischievous heresy of secession ; 
let them return to iheir allegiance : let them propose, as the only useful ameudmeut to 
the Constitution, nn express provision therein that no Stat* shall withdraw from the Union 
without the consent of all its members ; let them then mako known, in the respectful man- 
ner, due to every Governmeiir. what are their desires; aud I have no doubt that nraple 
security will be giveu for all ih.nr rights and even interests. iJut so long im open reballion 
on the one hand, and threatened rebellion on the other, are the meaus of redress relied on, 
there is «o course left for the Government but the vindication of its dignity by an exhibi- 
tion of its strength. Sir, there never was so wicked a rebellion since the angels revolted as 
that which now threatens to devastate this fair land. A country such as God never before 
gave lu any people; a Constitution the envy and the :idminai..n of the world; a freedom 
combined in such jasl measure with civil order as no other nation was ever blessed withal ; 
a past full of glorious recollections; a pretent wherein plenty is pouring her richest bouuty 
into the lap of peace; a future glowing Willi immortal hopes: these, all these, are to l>e 
thrown away, and the hell-fires of civil war to be kindl-d up. that a Toombs may be lord ol 
the ascendant in Georgia, or a Rhelt realize hii visions of ambition in South Caro Una. 
Otbers may do as they choose; I, for one, dare not oompound with a treason so full of 
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